Recently my housemate added a Giant Cupcake Mould to our ever-expanding collection of baking goods. Unable to leave anything vaguely cake-related alone, I took on the challenge of creating such a treat, found a suitable recipe and went about weighing, whisking and spooning. Once suitably 'moulded', I popped it into a hot oven. After a whole hour's wait (wash up, check emails, paint nails...) I dared to open the oven door and... it was a disappointment. Sure, the satisfying aroma of fresh baking was obvious, as was its comforting golden appearance. But the 'giant' I was expecting? Hmm. Nope. My mixture had risen, but not to the giant specifications I was after. I clearly hadn't made enough mixture and as a result my 'giant' cupcake was a slightly shrunken down version. Undeterred, and after a few swift adjustments, I used butter icing to sandwich together the base of the cupcake with it's lid. Some pink food colouring, chocolate vermicelli and edible glitter later and the result was a somewhat botched-together, rather child-like explosion of cake and colour. But all was not lost. The sponge was light and fluffy and you can't go wrong with anything smothered in creamy butter icing. I admit, not my finest culinary achievement but one which I thought would be good to share regardless. We all have to learn from our mistakes after all. This is the recipe I used. PLEASE DOUBLE IT!
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for the cake
170g butter170g caster sugar
170g self-raising flour
3 eggs
1tsp baking powder
for the butter icing
500g icing sugar
113g butter
Food colouring of your choice
Preheat the oven to 160ºC.
1. Mix the butter, caster sugar, flour, baking powder and eggs then whisk until light and fluffy.
2. Pour the cake mixture into the cupcake mould and bake for 1 hour.
3. For the butter icing, mix the butter for 1 min in a bowl, add the food colouring then bit by bit, add the icing sugar and mix until you can hold the spoon upside down without it falling off.
4. Decorate as you like!
